Do you agree with the UK school attendance policy, of fining parents?

[TwinklyTaupePanda]

If you are a teacher do you agree with the current UK school attendance policy, of fining parents? What are your thoughts about the focus on attendance, 'getting the child into the building at all costs', the policy of 'not supporting home learning'?
If you are a parent, what are your thoughts?

If you have a child with additional needs, do you feel discriminated against, when family holidays during busy school times, almost always mean your child is not able to be in those busy noisy environments; and the alternative is risking a fine?

@TwinklyTaupePanda I agree with fines for unauthorised absences. Parents who take their children out of school during term time for holidays are irresponsible. It is a form of truancy and should be treated as such.

Some people in this thread seem to think the money goes to the school - it doesn't.

Other people in this thread seem to think parents are being fined if their children are absent for illness - they aren't. (Though parents obviously need to provide appropriate evidence for illnesses that last more than a few days, as they would to an employer).

Did it actually help though? Were the parents/children more engaged after the fines? Did their attendance significantly improve?

The fines are intended as a deterrent. The fewer the fines, the better they are working.

Some people won't be deterred, others will be.

No, I'm not, I can understand how some feels this is a deterrent, but I cannot help but feel how many who work in education, social care and health, do not see this may not help those with difficulties, and it is to some extent ridiculous. Education, to many people in other places in the world, is a privilege; and it is wonderful that it is a right here, but it is sad to see some children see education as miserable, and some parents perhaps do not see it as priority. Is a fine, which is yet another punishment, going to change this?

There is a fine because people were starting to think that taking their kid out of school in term time for a cheap holiday was normal - everyone else was doing it, so why shouldn't they do it? The prospect of a fine sends a clear message that it is wrong, and deters many.

As you say, free education is a privilege, but some people abuse the privilege.

I think it is a terrible, short sighted policy, which does little to actually address attendance issues and should be abolished. It actively harms the parent/ school relationship. The fines are issued by the LA via the school who bear no brunt from the parents.

There is no reason a child with very good attendance and attainment should be denied a week holiday in June. Fining parents who 99% of the time get their children to school every day on time alienates them.

The real issue that needs to be addressed is persistent absence. Penalising and fining is not the way to deal with persistent absence. In 99% of cases of persistent absence the absence issues are not solved just because you fine the parents and instead harms the school and parent relationship.

Children with persistent absence or lateness almost always have something else going on. They are not jetting off to Spain multiple times a year. Persistent absence in 99% of cases is a result of either one or usually a combination of the following: unmet SEN needs, unmet SEN needs of a sibling, unsuitable education provision, poor mental health (of student or parents), addiction issues (parent addiction issues), complex medical issues. Which believe it or not, are not magically solved or disappear when a fine comes through the door. Instead they require provision, services and in many cases long term support. All of which cost money which no-one wants to give.

I think everyone should be allowed 5 days off for a holiday, unfined.

If travel companies and airlines didn’t hike the prices up to insane amounts during holidays, this wouldn’t be needed. Until then, people should be allowed to take a child on holiday during the school year and not be fined.

If there hadn't been the possibility of official involvement due to non attendance, I'd have been at home being abused more, as had happened to the majority of my older siblings - they had fake illnesses and fake holidays regularly (ie, the bruising needed to go down or they needed to be convinced it was their fault and they'd go into an orphanage if they said anything, that kind of thing).

As it was, I went to school and had the protective effect (albeit far less than now, changes in Law have really upped the priority for child safeguarding) of independent eyes on me for much of the year.

As others have said, it's not a UK policy - your thread title is incorrect and misleading, if you contact MN they will change it for you.

I’m a parent, and while I wouldn’t personally take my child out during term time, I do think it’s not black and white. If you think about Farmers, or those in the military or other careers where they don’t get much choice in when they can take a holiday I think it’s very sad if they’re never getting that lovely family time together.

I’m a teacher - secondary. I agree with fines for holidays in term time. That’s pure choice, and if a child misses weeks of school, they miss a large chunk of the curriculum in Y10/11, including knowledge and vital exam skills. That can be disastrous for grades at GCSE - I’ve seen it happen. If parents don’t care about that, that’s their business. But yes I think they should be fined to disincentivise them.

I do think children are, usually, better off being in school. Many children who are persistently absent are in unsafe and vulnerable situations, eg caring a for a relative, or being neglected. I don’t agree with fines in those cases but I do think action needs to be taken. I also don’t agree with fines for those who are absent due to physical or mental health/other needs. A much more nuanced approach is required for them.

It's another stealth tax and a bit of a racket ....

I dont for 1 minute think its improved school attendance rates

And the data agrees...

In the 2000-01 school year, the total absence rate was around 7.3 % with unauthorised absence around 0.7 %

In 2024 it was 7.1 % (so stable) and Unauthorised absence was around ~1.6 %–3.5 % depending on school type.

I believe the reverse...

Introducing the fine actually legitimises.

Fining parents doesn’t fix the problem, it normalises absences. Now there’s a set price, it stops feeling like a serious issue and starts feeling like an option.
“I’ve paid the fine, so it’s okay.”

Airports charge more for slots in peak times as people from around Europe all want to travel at the same times.

Hotels charge more for rooms in peak times as people from around Europe all want to travel at the same times.

As someone who works in education I wholeheartedly disagree with it.

I do think there is a balance to be struck with families having one week allowance per year for a holiday.

The unauthorised absence would be higher if there were no fines. The fines are a deterrent.

I don’t agree with it at all. Especially not for primary kids. There are learning opportunities everywhere. Plus I’m the parent, I believe I should get to make the decision, not the school. If I want to take my kids abroad (which I just cannot afford to do during school holidays) I should be able to without being fined and being made to feel like a shit parent. They learn far more spending a week in Italy visiting their grandparents, learning Italian, and learning about a different culture than they would copying the same alphabet letters they do every single day over and over

Been in education now over three decades.
I don't agree with it.
You will not convince me of the good of it.
The curriculum and schools themselves are a one size fits all.
The focus on inclusion without putting in the proper scaffolding means we all pretend that watch and wait, quality teaching first, adaptive teaching, assessment for learning and learning plans are going to fix a broken system.
And it is broken.
The government know this. They know that the majority of absentees who school refuse cannot rather than do not want to. They know that CAMHS is broken. They know that EHCPs are costing LAs hence gatekeeping them. That is even if the EHCP is fulfilled rather than ignored. They know that 18-25s and future 18-25s may not be fit for work.
The whole thing is a shit show and the government making attendance the big issue covers the fact that all of it needs a rehaul.
You can make attendance, reading for pleasure and inclusion the big three but unless you have invested money into making the school accessible in the first place then you are just paying lip service.

I don’t think that parents should take their children out of school for a family holiday unless there’s extenuating circumstances. I think headteachers should have authority to agree 5 or 10 days like before.

"Plus I’m the parent, I believe I should get to make the decision, not the school. If I want to take my kids abroad (which I just cannot afford to do during school holidays) I should be able to without being fined and being made to feel like a shit parent"

As a parent you have the right to home school your child and go on holiday whenever you like. If you send them to state school you make a commitment which should not be sacrificed for a cheap week in Spain or wherever.

I completely understand what you’re saying. But I would say that the parents who make holidays into learning experiences are also probably those who are doing lots of reading and talking with their children, encouraging them to draw and write etc. Those children probably won’t be disadvantaged by missing a week or two of primary school. But let’s face it, many holidays aren’t learning experiences, and as a high school teacher I can tell you that plenty of kids arrive at Y7 not able to form letters properly. They really do need to be in school, imo. If they miss a crucial step in learning those basic skills, it really can disadvantage them. And once you get to Year 10 and 11, the impact is massive.

I completely disagree with it.

It incentivises and encourages parents and children to lie for a start.

It is purported to be based on evidence but the evidence is very clearly linking persistent lateness and regular absences to low achievement. The low achievement in children whose families are regularly late, absent multiple times throughout a school career will also be linked to level of parental education and the support they can provide for reading at home for eg. It will be linked to housing, nutrition, stability, safegarding etc etc. There is no evidence that missing school once every few years to go skiing for a week is a negative to education at all.

My dc have brilliant attendance. We both work so have no easy way to facilitate dc being off at all so they are very much dosed up and sent in, even when unwell. All of mine are doing really well academically and there is absolutely no way you could argue that us having a family break for a week would be remotely impactful on their education.

The only people I know who have been fined are people like us. They have well achieving dc with otherwise stellar attendance and the fine is an annoying but manageable penalty that doesn't outweigh the benefits of avoiding the ski lift queue. There is no way these children have any negative impact from missing a few days of school.

The people whose children are frequently absent, late, etc are often also the children who are poorly prepared, missing stuff, don't do the reading and spellings homework etc. These people CLEARLY do not need the added stress of a fine and need lots of support and assistance.

If you put such little value into what your child is doing then why don’t you homeschool?

Hopefully not with that use of commas 🫣

I agree! Should apply to school staff too.